In the Highlands, there’s an expression regularly used to describe pretty much anyone who steps into the spotlight to try something away from the norm.
It is: “He’s a nutter.”
Paul Lister, owner of the 23,000 acre Alladale Wilderness Reserve in Sutherland and founder of The European Nature Trust (TENT) admits it’s a term he’s heard used to describe himself.
Equally unflattering is being referred to as “howling mad” because he wants to have wolves and bears roaming his land.
But it’s a tag he’s willing to stick with if it means that he will, one day, realise his dream of restoring the eco-system of the Highlands.
It’s 10 years since the 54-year-old multi-millionaire, philanthropist and passionate environmentalist put down roots in Sutherland.
Since then he’s put down roots of a different type by organising the planting of a whopping 817,000 native trees (600ha of new woodland) while 224ha of degraded peatland has been restored through a pioneering scheme run by Peatlands which literally stops the water rushing off the hills and keeps the peat wet.
As for introducing wolves and bears?
Well, that is one of his long-term ambitions, but he’s quick to point out they will never roam free, but live within an enormous fenced enclosure. Think Yellowstone Park or game reserves in South Africa, he suggests.
He’s certainly not your typical Highland laird and never set out to own an estate where hunting, shooting and fishing were the main objectives.
“I’m hopeless at shooting birds and don’t have the mindset for fishing,” said Lister who relaxes instead by exercising up to two hours a day cycling, playing tennis, running and doing yoga.
“But I’ve always been fascinated by nature and the great outdoors.
“As a child I was fortunate enough to be taken on non-beach type holidays where I could explore. Then when my father got into sailing, weekends were spent with him racing sail boats on the North Sea where I’d spend most of my time puking,” he said laughing at the memory.
Lister inherited a fortune from his father Noel, one of the co-founders of MFI.
Noel is said to have sold his share of the business for £52million in 1985 which makes Lister a very wealthy chap.
When I ask if he’s now a millionaire, multi-millionaire or billionaire he declined to put a figure on his value but said: “I’m well off enough not to worry about working again.
“Having a high net worth is how I’d describe myself.”
He travelled the world and worked in the furniture business. His life changed when he was in his 40s.
“About the year 2000 my father became very ill and spent several weeks in hospital and it was during that time I had an epiphany about what I was doing with my life,” said Lister, who also has homes in Coconut Grove, Miami and Notting Hill, London.
“I was in my early 40s and it was rather disappointing as I’d taken a long time to wake up to who I really was.
“I’d been masquerading as a businessman.
“After having this moment of clarity I sought refuge for a while then came back with clear views of what I wanted to do which was to change direction, set up a nature foundation and buy a Highland estate with a view to breathing life back into it and re-wilding it.”
He founded and endowed The European Trust for Nature (TENT) whose aim is to help preserve and restore the last remaining areas of wilderness and degraded habitats in Europe. Then he set out to find a suitable Highland estate.
“Alladale was purchased because of its unique location,” said Lister, who enjoys entertaining friends and fellow eco-supporters at his lodge home on the estate.
“It is inside the watershed so there’s less rainfall. There are no tenant farmers or crofters. It had rivers and lochs and no Munros (mountains over 3,000ft) so there would be less demand from people to walk on it.
“It had good buildings and infrastructure which we could build on, and it was relatively close to Inverness.
“After buying, word quickly got out that I wasn’t going to be the usual type of estate owner as I wasn’t interested in it becoming a traditional sporting estate, so I shared my vision for Alladale with them.
“In the early 1980s my family invested in commercial forestry, during which time I learned about land use and grew to love nature and especially the Highlands.
“However, over the following decade, I came to understand that the Highland ecosystem was broken.
“Natural forest? Gone. Soils? Depleted.
“Large predators? Extinct.
“When I acquired Alladale, it was with a view to repairing some of that damage, and to focus on the